Bag dispensing apparatus for bagging machines



Feb. 24, 1953. c. K. NELSON BAG DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR BAGGING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 3, 1948 Feb. 24, 1953 c. K. NELSON 2,629,369

BAG DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR BAGGING MACHINES Filed June 5, 1948 FIE' Z,

4 Sheets-Sheet 2 W1 FIEIXI I a? Feb. 24, 1953 c. K. NELSON BAG DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR BAGGING MACHINES Filed June 5, 1948 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 HHH HHHH %.&m

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Feb. 24, 1953 c. K. NELSON BAG DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR BAGGING MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 5, 1948 q .ialilliw FIE-5.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BAG DISPENSING APPARATUS FOR BAGGING MACHINES Christian K. Nelson, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Eskimo Pie Corporation, Bloomfield, N. J., a corporation of Delaware Application June 3, 1948, Serial No. 30,822

2 Claims.

The present invention relates to bagging machines particularly adapted to receive frozen confections, such as ice cream bars on sticks, to cause progressive movement of stacks of bags, and to effect opening of the bag ends preliminary to standards, this plate being formed with an intertheir reception of the frozen confections, and to mediate transverse aperture indicated at 1, Fig. 1, release the filled bags. so that an entire row of confections may drop The primary object of the invention is to simthrough plate 6 when the sticks holding the same plify and expedite the filling of bags with various are released from the stick holder. articles, particularly ice cream bars on sticks, It will be noted that the table or plate 6 extends and particularly to overcome problems incident at both sides of its discharge aperture 1, and that to the opening and subsequent release of the bags, an article holding carriage 9, the latter being so that such opening operation may be assured, formed with rows of compartments, may be and the filled bags may properly be released from moved to bring the compartments successively the machine. These problems are augmented into register with the table discharge opening I. when gusset, fold-over-bottom, types of bags are In the present embodiment the carriage 9 is proemployed, and the invention enables use of such vided with a handle at each end thereof as indibags, and with rapid filling operations. cated at 9x, and these handles rest upon the tops The invention will be described with reference of supporting bars [0, carried by the table 6. to the accompanying drawings, in which: The carriage slides on said bars l0 and relatively Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partly broken away, to the table discharge opening 1. showing the primary elements of the machine Th compartment carriage 9 is filled by reembodying the invention, the view being taken lease of the sticks 4 through any suitable stick toward the front of the machine; releasing means of the stick rack. Such stick Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the machine; clamping and releasing means is common in the Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the machine, partly art and forms no part of the present invention. broken away; With the stick rack and article holding carriage Fig. 4 is a plan view partly broken away; 9 lying in the position of Fig. 2, release of the Fig. 5 is a vertical section on the line 55, Fig. 2 sticks will cause all of the ice cream bars 5 to fall showing the adjusting means for walls of the into the compartments of the article holding carbag compartments; 0 riage, and inasmuch as the right hand row of Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view similar to Fig. 5. compartments are in register with the table dis- Fig. 7 is a fragmentary horizontal section on charge opening 1, that row of ice cream bars will the line 7-1, Fig. 3; fall through the table into article guiding chutes Fig. 8 is a horizontal section on the line 8-8, leading to bags for the article, as later to be de- Fig.3; 3 scribed.

Fig. 9 is a view in elevation of one of the side Referring again to Fig. 2, when the right hand wall members of the bag compartment assembly, row of articles has been released and discharged the supporting and adjusting rods being shown into the table discharge aperture 1, the remainin section and a bag being shown in position ing three rows will be held in their respective after partial opening thereof; compartments, because they will rest upon the Fig. 10 is a schematic view in vertical section table. Then, the article holding carriage will be through the center of one bag compartment and moved to the right and by successive action, each through the air blast tube and article chute show row of compartment held articles will be dising the action of the air blast on the foremost charged through opening 1, and at this point the bag; article holding carriage will lie in the position of Fig. 11 is a fragmentary perspective view of the Fig. 1 for reverse movement and action as before, lower end portion of an air blast tube; after receiving a fresh supply of articles released Fig. 12 is a plan view of a gusset bag for which from a second stick holder carrying ice cream the machine is adapted. bars suspended by their sticks and held by releas-' Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the 5D able clamping devices of the said known type. machine embodiment therein shown comprises The article receiving chutes which lie in regvertical standards I which support at their tops ister with the table discharge aperture 1 may parallel guide rails 2 upon which a stick rack 3 comprise spaced transverse plates I23: and crossmay be moved forwardly and backwardly. In the wise intermediate plates l2acx, the structure as 2.. operation of the machine this stick rack will rewhole being indicated at l2.

2 leasably hold the sticks 4 of a plurality of rows of ice cream bars indicated at 5.

The standards are spaced by a table plate 6 which may be welded to or otherwise held by the Below the said article receiving chute arrangement I2 is a compartment arrangement for the bags. A suitable bag is shown in Fig. 12, the bag being provided with an upstanding fiap or lip I333, the bag as a whole being designated by numeral l3.

The bag compartments consist of a plurality of upright plates I4 which plates are movable and a central plate I5 which is fixed. Each of the movable plates, with the exception of the outermost plates, is centered with respect to a supporting base plate I51: which, in each case, forms a bottom supporting area for the bags. The outermost plates I4 are provided with inwardly extending bag supporting areas I5.ra:.

The central compartment plate I5 and its base plate I500 is carried by a sleeve I6 within which is a shaft H which is freely rotatable with respect to sleeve I6.

Referring more particularly to Figures 5 and 6 it will be noted that beginning at the left of Fig. 5 there is disposed an internally threaded carrier sleeve I8 for the outermost plate I4 within which is a worm IS on shaft H. The next vertical compartment plate is mounted on a sleeve to receive worm gear 2I. The next vertical compartment plate is mounted on a sleeve 22 threaded to receive worm 23.

Again referring to Fig. 5, it will be noted that the upright compartment plate to the right of the fixed plate I5 is mounted on a sleeve 25 threaded on worm '24. The adjacent compartment plate I4 is mounted on a sleeve 21 internally threaded to receive worm 26; and the outermost right hand compartment plate I4 is mounted on a sleeve 29 internally threaded to receive worm 28.

In order to equally adjust the width of the compartments, worms I9, 2|, and 23 have successively reduced pitch. That is to say, the pitch of the worm threads on worm I9 is greater than the pitch of either of the worms 2I and 23, and the pitch of worm 2I is greater than the pitch of worm 23. Reference to Fig. 5 will show that the same worm-pitch variation is made with respect to worms 24, 26, and 28, inclusive. Thus, when shaft I! is rotated by thumb wheel 3!! to a position at which there is an even adjustment of each compartment size, and in which there is an increase in compartment width of one-quarter inch, the compartment walls immediately opposite the central fixed wall will have a progressively greater movement toward the standards I. As shown in Figs. 5 and 6 worm gears I9, 2| and 23 slope to the right whereas worm gears 24, 26 and 28 slope to the left. Central wall I5 is fixed as it has no worm gear beneath it. Clearly the separate walls I4 to the left of element l5 move as a unit in one direction while the separate walls I4 to the right of element I5 move as a unit in an opposed direction. Clearl also, when the nearest Wall I4 to the left of element I5 moves A; inch, then in order to avoid crushing of the bags in the second compartment removed from element I5 the second wall I4 must move A; of an inch, viz. A; inch for itself, plus /8 inch due to the movement of the wall I4 secondly removed from central wall I5. Obviously the outermost Wall I4 to the left of element I5 must be moved inch. The same movement is simultaneously effected to the right of element but in an opposed direction by the rotation of element ii. Manifestly the ch 'tes can be simultaneously enlarged to accommodate various bag sizes.

As shown in Figs. 4 and 9 the base plates I52:

have depending ears 3I apertured to receive guide rods 32 supported by the standards I. A dial 33 carried by one of the standards may co-act with the pointer 34 on thumb wheel 30, to indicate the position of adjustment in width of the bag holding compartment.

It will be noted that the bag holding compartments are inclined, and by such means the weight of a stack of bags will by gravity cause them to move progressively to the front as the foremost bags are filled and discharged. The foremost bag within each compartment will, at its bottom margin, be restrained by a rounded or ball formation 35 at the ends of the upright compartment walls which bound each compartment, and back of each rounded or ball shape bag-restraining member 35 the base support of the bags is supplied with a gap or clearance, so that the bottom margins of each bag are not supported throughout when the bag reaches the front of the compartment and is ready to receive an article dropped through the appropriate chute I2. At this point the bag is supported only by relatively narrow supporting areas which constitute pointed areas 11 of the base plates I5x and I5:c:r.

Heretofore it has been very difficult to employ bags which have side gussets 0r inwardly folded side margins which at their base are in turn increased in thickness through closing the bottom of the bag by folding over upon itself and cementing in position the base of the bag body. In such case there are 8 thicknesses of the bag material at the base margins, and release of the filled bag has required deflection or bending of its base margin which action is resisted by so many overlying thicknesses of the bag material at such point. By means of my said construction the base margins of the bag are permitted to remain in position while the article received in the bag in the downward drop thereof deflects the base of the bag to somewhat arcuate formation, enabling it to slip downwardly over the points 1) and to drop downwardly out of its compartment while the margins of the bag substantially throughout its length are still guided by contact of said rounded or ball-shaped members. This, it is believed, constitutes a new principle in the release elements of bagging machines.

The foremost bag within each compartment is blown open by a blast of air from an air tube 31 there being one air tube for each bag-holding compartment. As shown in Fig. 4, the air tubes communicate with a manifold 39 in communication with a pipe 40 (Fig. 1) leading to a blower. The bottom end of each air tube is of special formation, as shown more particularly in Fig. 11. The front wall of each tube 31 is extended downward and provided with an air-deflecting lip 311:: above which is an air aperture bounded by rearwardly extending triangular fingers 40. The said downward extension of the air tube is approximately the length of the flap I31: at the top of the bag (see Fig. 12). Thus, when the foremost bag reaches the fingers 4B and a downward air blast passes through the appropriate tube 31 a suctional effect is produced on the front wall of the bag lying opposite the bag flap I312. This is due to the flow of air through the aperture bounded by the fingers 40 as deflected by inclined lip 311:. Thus the bag is blown open to the position shown in Fig. 10 and is ready to receive the first row of articles dropped through the chute I2 appropriate to the bag compartment.

In Fig. 8 I have shown a modification of the rounded or ball shape bag-restraining members in that they are pear shaped and tapper inwardly along the sides of the bag compartment walls [4, so that the latter support the pear-shaped members at the longitudinal axes thereof. Also in Figs. 1 and 2 I have shown similar guiding abutments carried by the compartment walls I4 and i5 above the members 35 as indicated at 45.

Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

1. A bag filling machine comprising a plurality of article receiving chutes, a plurality of air blast chutes adjacent and behind said receiving chutes, and having a protruding front wall provided with an outwardly pointing air deflecting lip and an aperture with inwardly pointing fingers, a plurality of inclined receiving compartments having moveable walls and adopted to move gusseted bags under the force of gravity and located below said chutes, and lug friction holders adapted to retain the movement of empty bags against the force of gravity but to release a filled bag.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein said compartment walls consist of a central fixed wall, a

plurality of left walls moveable as a unit to the left of said fixed wall, and a plurality of right walls moveable as a unit to the right of said fixed wall; a plurality of left handed worms beneath said plurality of right walls whereby the compartment walls are moveable as a unit to effect compartments adapted to receive gusset bags of different sizes.

CHRISTIAN K. NELSON.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

